"So you were a robot, huh?" Jon asked Wheatley as they strolled from office to office.

"I would prefer to say construct," Wheatley answered grumpily, his arms crossed.

"Is there really a difference?" Natalie asked.

"I think so," Wheatley said. "The word 'robot' sort of implies that I had arms and legs. I was actually more like a mechanical, gyroscopic ball with an eye."

"Sounds weird," Jon said. "I'm a cook down in the compound. It's not really as exciting as working here."

"Hm."

"So is Chell your girlfriend or something?" Natalie asked.

Wheatley became obviously flustered at this. "No," he said. "I mean, not really. I mean, I think we're just really good friends right now."

"Ohhh, so it's like that, huh?" Natalie asked with a sly look.

"Like what?" Wheatley asked.

"It's 'complicated', then?" Natalie asked.

"I don't know why you're using air quotes for that word," Wheatley said. "But yes, if you really want to stick your nose in my business, it is complicated. We're trying to work out our feelings right now. I was hoping to get the chance to talk to her while we're in the facility, but that didn't really work out, did it?"

"Oh. My bad," Jon said.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as they did a quick scan of each office with a management rail going into it.

"So you mentioned something about being put in charge of this place, right?" Jon asked.

"Yes, I did."

"What was that like? Why aren't you in charge anymore?"

Wheatley recalled in his mind the uncomfortable itch and the power of being able to control everything around him. "It was alright at first," he explained. "Actually, it was bloody great. It was amazing being able to manipulate everything around me. But it quickly went downhill from there. I was awful to my friend Nora and I hurt her. Then the facility just sort of started falling apart. I wasn't paying attention to the slightly more important needs of the facility. Carbon monoxide levels, how high the fires were burning in the furnace, some of the nuclear-powered things needed a close watch on them. It was just too much to handle."

"Well, I wouldn't be able to take that kind of pressure either, Wheatley," Jon said, giving him a quick pat on the back. "Also, nuclear-powered things? Should we be worried?"

"No, I don't think so," Wheatley said, waving it off. "Nothing like that to worry about at all. GLaDOS can handle managing all of that. Although she doesn't do it in a very stylish way. Everything is strictly business with her."

He suddenly jumped a little from a rumbling in the distance. It reminded him of when his chamber would shake when he was in control.

"What do you think that was?" Jon asked.

"Nothing good," Wheatley said. "Rumbling is never something good in this place."


Chell was a bit closer to the mainframe's chamber so she felt the tremors more than Wheatley. She listened carefully, hoping to be able to hear what was going on through the walls.

"What was that?" Arin asked. "I felt that."

"It can't be good," Chell said. "It always means that something is going wrong with the facility. I knew it was a bad idea to come back here."

"Then why did you?" Arin asked. "I don't mean to pry."

"I didn't want to make my friends go in without me," Chell said. "Wheatley is the first friendly person I remember meeting in my life so I guess I came in here to protect him."

"Ah," Arin said. "I'm kind of in here to protect someone, too. Nate, don't you dare say a word to her about this but…..I've kind of had a little crush on our leader for a while."

"You have?" Nate asked, laughing a little. "Well, shoot, kid! It looks like both of you ended up in the wrong group!"

"I'm just worried that that kid Mikey is going to weigh her down," Arin said. "I don't think he could carry her if she got hurt or something."